Based in the United Arab Emirates, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is a columnist on Arab affairs and an MIT Media Labs Director’s Fellow. Rising in prominence during the Arab Spring, Sultan’s tweets became a major news source, and Time magazine listed him in the 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2011. In 2014, Arabian Business placed Sultan in its list of World’s 100 Most Powerful Arabs under the Thinkers category. Sultan is also the founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation, an independent initiative established to contribute to the intellectual development of the art scene in the Arab region by providing a prominent and publicly accessible art collection in the UAE.

A great source of insights and commentary on recent urban histories, included in the collection are articles by journalist Thanassis Cambanis, Adam Rogers of WIRED and Architecture Professor and Curator of the UAE Pavillion for the Venice Biennale Yasser ElShestawy